Expelled – no intelligence allowed dvd, NPN Videos. 95 minutes £8
The widely-felt tension between faith and science is still very much a live issue and shows no sign of going away. The views of moderates in both camps does not hold much sway so the arena is sadly left open to extremists.
This documentary film, presented by Ben Stein, is a serious examination of a relatively recent development – Intelligent Design – with claims to have a sound basis in real science but its implication or consequence that it leads inevitably to belief in a personal Creator is vehemently refuted by many, not just scientists. The suggestion of John Lennox in his book ‘Cosmic Chemistry’ (p 57) is that ‘intelligent causation’ or intelligent origin’ might be more helpful terms than ‘intelligent design’.
Then alternative explanation for the existence of the cosmos and everything in it is the Darwinian hypothesis which sees no need of a divine creator to explain why the world is here.
The primary thrust of this presentation is that many academic scientists have lost their jobs, have lost research grants, have lost any chance of promotion simply because of their expressed desire simply to explore Intelligent Design.
The affected people are interviewed here. It really does not reflect well on the academic establishment which seems to want to stifle freedom of thought or the exploration of new ideas.
Some people from academia are interviewed with alternative explanations as to why individuals have lost their academic positions.
There appears to be little hope for anyone in academic circles who does not subscribe to the idea that the universe is the result of accidental or random chance.
To be fair, there are also interviews with scientists who are also committed Christians, people such as Prof John Lennox and Prof John Polkinghorne.
Eugenics, especially as espoused in Hitler’s Germany and as it enjoyed a little fad in the USA is also given some airing.
This film will not resolve the perceived conflict between faith and science and it does little to show them as complementary views of how and where the world started but it does shed some light on the unhappy consequences of Intelligent Design.